Introduction

The Ubuntu developers are moving very quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the Open Source Community has to offer. Hardy Heron Alpha 3 is the third alpha release of Ubuntu 8.04, and with this new alpha release comes a whole host of excellent new features.

Note: This is still an alpha release. Do not install it on production machines. The final stable version will be released in April 2008.

In General

These features are showcased for your attention. Please test them and report any bugs you find. If you want to see what the developers have cooking for the next alpha release take a look through the hardy blueprint page https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/hardy

Upgrading from Ubuntu 7.10

To upgrade from Ubuntu 7.10, run "update-manager -d" using the update-manager package from Gutsy.

Xorg 7.3

The latest Xorg is available in Hardy, Xorg 7.3, with an emphasis on better autoconfiguration with a minimal configuration file.

Linux kernel 2.6.24

Alpha 3 includes the 2.6.24-3.5 (2.6.24-rc6-based) kernel. This brings in significant enhancements and fixes that have been merged in the last few months into the mainline kernel. Among these is the introduction of dynticks support for amd64, bringing the same power savings already available on 32-bit systems to 64-bit laptops and desktops.

PolicyKit

With Alpha 3, PolicyKit integration is gaining visibility in the administrative user interfaces. PolicyKit makes it possible to run administrative applications as a normal user, and have them get a particular set of extra privileges for certain operations, which allows fine grained control over user permissions and enhances usability, as well as eliminating the security implications of running the whole application as root.

Firefox 3 Beta 2

The latest Firefox 3 beta comes with Alpha 3, bringing much better system integration including theming that mirrors the system such as icons and colours as well as having GTK2 form buttons and open dialog.

Caveats

There are several known bugs that users are likely to run into with Hardy Alpha 3. We have documented them here for your convenience along with any known workarounds, so that you don't need to spend time reporting these bugs again:

The new kernel in Alpha 3 is unable to access CD-ROM devices in some configurations, which means some users who were previously able to install Ubuntu will not be able to install this alpha from CD media. Investigation is ongoing; no workaround is known at this time. https://launchpad.net/bugs/181561

Video problems have been reported with the 64-bit (amd64) version of Edubuntu desktop. As a workaround, users can manually specify a video resolution at the boot menu. https://launchpad.net/bugs/173130

Users with an older ATI Radeon graphics card might have video problems. As a workaround, you can boot the livecd with a failsafe mode, and after installation add 'Option "AGPMode" "4"' to the "Device" -section of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf. https://launchpad.net/bugs/180343

The livecd installer will crash when selecting languages that are not used by more than one country. As a workaround, install in English and change the language afterwards, or install a new version of the ubiquity package on the livecd before starting the installer. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/174937

Reporting Bugs

It should come as no surprise that this alpha release of Hardy Heron contains other bugs. Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions will help fix bugs and improve future releases. Please report bugs through the Ubuntu bug tracker

If you want to help out with bugs, the Bug Squad is always looking for help.

Participate in Ubuntu

If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of ways you can participate at